The evaluation consisted of two different visits. The first visit was with a school psychologist who came out with an assessment that had a long list of questions that she asked Jeff and I about Tallie. You think you know your child pretty well until someone starts asking you all kinds of questions. It's hard to come up with all of the words that Tallie has ever said on the spot like that. It's hard to know how to answer the question, "How does Tallie let you know when she wants something to drink?" I don't know, I'm her mom, I just know.
At the end of the evaluation she asked if we had any questions and I asked her what her initial thoughts were from just our answers. She said that she did have some initial concerns, but that she'd be able to have a better feel for things after the second visit.
The second visit was with the same school psychologist and a helper. They brought out a backpack of toys to test Tallie with. They were testing to see how she would react and interact with the toys. She started off well, I thought, but I wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for. Then they started asking her to do more "pretend play" with a baby doll and having a birthday party. She wasn't really doing anything they wanted her to and that theme seemed to continue throughout the rest of the visit. It was so frustrating to watch. I wanted so badly to step in and try and help her, so that she would "pass the test". I had a bad feeling and was choking back tears when I asked at the end of the visit how she thought it went. She told me that she would have to wait to give me an official diagnosis after all the scoring was done, but that she found it very likely that Tallie would fall on the autism spectrum.
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